Bait

Bait 3D – CATCH IT (B) Bait is about a group of survivors from different walks of life find themselves trapped inside a submerged grocery store when a tsunami hits the coast of Queensland, Australia. As they try to escape to safety, they soon discover that there is a predator among them more deadly than the threat of drowning-vicious great white sharks lurking in the water, starved hungry for fresh meat. As the bloodthirsty sharks begin to pick the survivors off one by one, the group realizes that they must work together to find a way out without being eaten alive. Bait is Australia's first 3D movie and to be honest its better than I had expected. The special effects, the cast, the monstrous sharks and supermarket half in water is pretty convincing. The movie manages to have pretty famous young and old faces so Xavier Samuel (Good), Sharni Vinson (Too skinny), Phoebe Tonkin (Cool Brat), Lincoln Lewis (Hot Jock), Alex Russell (Cute Guy), Cariba Heine (Hot Chick) and Julian McMohan (Cool). Bait is really entertaining and unlike other horror/thrillers it keeps most of the good people alive so for a killer shark movie that was a new thing.

Shark movies, how many good ones are out there? Well, after the obvious the list is pretty baron. However, Bait is remarkably watchable. I was quite surprised to find myself glued to the screen after over half an hour of character show and tell and only the opening shark scene to reel us in. The CGI and casting are the only two factors that plead with me to turn the movie off. For a thirty-mil budget the shark animations were truly inadequate, yet Bait managed to survive considering. Which is more than can be said for most civilians who aren't trapped in a supermarket given the state of that Australian coastline. Matthew Lessall and Ben Parkinson (Casting) need a job chat, some sideline characters offer absolutely, indescribably the worst performances I have ever seen. Listening to the psychotic Aussie robber, frantic store manager and squabbling couple in their car really made me shudder with anger. More time establishing deeper character backgrounds instead would have pleased, although they hold up pretty well for a shark flick.

Despite some teeth grinding actors and reminders of Bruce from Finding Nemo, Bait is visually very pleasing and makes for a worthy shark movie.

7/10.

Some shark movies are laughable, cheesy, and way too far fetched (Sharktopus). Some shark movies and horror movies in general can just be unbelievably bad. This Australian film was a pleasant surprise. There wasn't scantily clad girls walking around topless (Piranha) or cheap thrills. This had some genuine pillow clenches, it had some unpredictability, great acting, and had a location I had not seen before in a shark movie, Australia. Most importantly it had characters I actually cared about! There is more to this shark flick than just sharp teeth and flesh. Dig your teeth into this film if you are a thriller, horror, shark movie fan.

A tsunami hits the coast of Australia, trapping a group of (mostly pretty) people inside a flooded grocery store. Oh and there's a shark trapped in there with them. Okay, so just when you thought they couldn't come up with any new twists in the killer shark subgenre of horror, they go and come up with the brilliant idea of a shark in a grocery store. It's all pretty stupid but also kind of fun. It's a watchable popcorn flick. The Aussie cast is nice, including former H2O co-stars Phoebe Tonkin and Cariba Heine. They aren't mermaids here but that would have been cool. There's really nothing about this movie that stays with you after seeing it but, while you're watching, you'll probably enjoy it well enough.

This was a good stab at a shark thriller.

I was actually pretty impressed with a few of the actors. Mind you I find a lot of Australian films to have really decent acting in them even with unknowns, regardless of the plot.

An original concept for a shark movie, good use of lighting and tension, and a few nice little plot twists.

A great balance of antagonists and protagonists in a "bunch of strangers" stranded setting.

The filming quality and mechanics of the feature are superior to the budget spent, in my opinion.

I found this to be a not bad at all Friday night watch. Great "BAGGAPOPCORNER" if you are in one of those moods where you aren't sure what to watch.